Inspired by a good joke and a stirring play, I offer these remarks, including a rather unorthodox ending: A young man is hitchhiking and gets picked up by a trucker. After thanking him profusely, the young … Read More
Ensuring Real Student Equity in Aspen
“Your mind is like a parachute; it only works when it’s open,” my seventh-grade teacher counseled. That inspiration – and Mr. Rogers’ assurance that he liked me just the way I am – helped me … Read More
Are Americans silly or sage?
“You know who doesn’t care that there’s a stereotype of a Chinese man in a Dr. Seuss book?” Bill Maher asked on Real Time. “China,” he answered. “All 1.4 billion…because they’re not a silly people,” unlike … Read More
Want Unity? Tame the pandemic…and I don’t mean COVID
In a joke illuminating our divided times, a husband suspects his wife is deaf and decides to test her hearing. While she’s cooking, he stands afar and asks, “what’s for dinner, dear?” Hearing no response, he … Read More
The Pope and Bernie Sanders: Misguided Economic Missionaries
If only Pope Francis were in my Buenos Aires taxi last Christmas. I could have used his moral authority (and Argentine-accented Spanish) in negotiating with a driver who’d forgotten the “Golden Rule.” And in witnessing … Read More
Search For Truth Amid the Propaganda
At a recent 11,000-strong Netroots Nation conference, irate activists booed off the stage presidential candidate Martin O’Malley for proclaiming “black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter.” That O’Malley was jeered for his echo … Read More
Are Americans Still in Charge of Our Lives
Amid unending political horserace punditry – who’s up, who’s down in the wake of Supreme Court rulings, Congress’ Trade Promotion votes, Iranian nuclear negotiations, and the racist Charleston massacre – let’s Think Again about the … Read More
No Cones of Silence in the Surveillance State
In the madcap TV series “Get Smart,” secret agent Maxwell Smart evades surveillance — and arch-nemesis KAOS – with an array of clandestine gadgets including a shoe phone and the legendary “Cone of Silence.” Americans … Read More
Tyranny of Bureaucracy
In his 1980s comedy routine, Yakov Smirnoff celebrated America’s free society and equality before the law, joking: “In America you can always find a party. In Russia, Party always finds you! In America, you break … Read More
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